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Surprised no one watched the Champions League, by the look of it. I didn't, but I would have had to have gone out and I'd only recently got back.

Can't say I'm too diappointed about losing the playoffs. Fulham finished third, and I always feel that the 3rd placed team deserves to go up. And they played better on the day. Bright side is having at least another year in the more entertaining division.

Poor Karius. Guy's been getting a load of death threats and stuff on Twitter which is just dastardly.

I actually thought it was a really enjoyable game of football. The obvious narrative is that once they lost Salah Liverpool had lost the game, but they stil looked dangerous enough to be a serious threat to Real throughout. At 2-1 it did feel like they were probably still in with a shout of pulling it back. And then...well...Karius. Poor guy.

Looks like he'll be replaced by someone this summer, and with Mignolet not fancied I guess he'll become the number 2. And Liverpool have already signed Keita and Fabinho this summer for about £100m combined, so are clearly looking to build on this with more money. They might be serious contenders next season if Salah can reproduce his form (or someone else step up to fill any reduced impact he has).

I did see the West Ham managerial appointment and thought, wow, that is quite a coup. And it probably goes some way towards buying the owners a bit of time too, doesn't it?!

Steve Bruce has said that he'll stay on 'if we still want him'. In my opinion, we'd be mad to change now. He turned the side around from one that could have plunged into the third tier to one that was a bad 45 minutes from promotion in about a year and a half. You never want to try and predict the Championship but I'd say there's a decent chance if we keep him and the summer business is good that we could win the league next year. Boro will be up there and you've always got one eye on Derby, and it depends on how the relegated clubs sort themselves out, but it doesn't look like there's anyone to really worry about it, with two good footballing teams and a very solid Warnock outfit going up out of the way.

Wasn't Afobe on loan with an option to buy? Was that the story? I think it's what Madrid were supposedly set to do with Morata a couple of seasons ago, they were buying him back from Madrid for £30m and then allegedly selling him immediately to Chelsea for £50m-£60m. Of course, that move didn't happen until a season later, but they still did pretty well from it.

Originally Posted by Prime Time

I did see the West Ham managerial appointment and thought, wow, that is quite a coup. And it probably goes some way towards buying the owners a bit of time too, doesn't it?!

I have to admit, they got me. That said, they do seem to be up to their usual tricks - interest in Pastore up until the season ticket renewal deadline, then suddenly 'oh, actually, he's too expensive'. Felipe Anderson repeatedly reported as 'very close' but it doesn't have feel like the Lacazette/Bacca/Batshuayi/Carvalho situations we've been in over the past couple of summer windows, where it rumbles on and on and in the end we find out we're just not bidding enough to match any kind of valuation (like Carvalho, where I think in the end it turned out we'd bid £10m below the asking price - something that Sullivan himself revealed when trying to confirm there had actually been a bid placed on him in the Dildo Brother fallout). Marlon has gone quiet immediately after the renewal deadline with us suddenly deciding he's not big/strong enough for the Premier League - did we even scout him before supposedly bidding?

Fredericks looks like a good signing, mind you. Young, English, Championship pedigree, speedy. Think it's now 12 years since we spent a transfer fee on a starting right back.

Thing is, the problem lies where it has for three seasons now - we need at least one starting centre back, a strong defensive midfielder, and (possibly) a reliable starting goalkeeper. We've tried to fix things with signings like Fonte and Hart, but really none have paid off.

I'm a lot less positive about our next season than in the post up the page. Sounds like our finances are FUCKED. There's even been talk of phoenix clubs. We're now looking at staying in the division, and staying in business, as what we're aiming at for the next few years.

I feel sorry for you, Prime, in the same way I felt/feel sorry for Leeds and Sunderland fans. You've all had/got chairmen who, when the good times were rolling, were more than happy to be a public face and splash a bit of cash without really considering what it meant long-term. The evaporation of investment has got to really, really bite, especially for someone like Leeds where the chairman was being completely reckless.

I hope it gets sorted out. Never like to see a club suffer for financial reasons, feel like it just shouldn't happen in this age of the game when there is so much money sloshing about that Liverpool can spend £150m on three players before the end of the first week in June.

Speaking of money sloshing about - what do people make about this new finances split that got approved yesterday, whereby clubs that finish in the top six (which I guess we might as well call the 'big six' now) will get a merit-based split of any money made from TV in excess of the current price of the deal?

I worked out yesterday, based on figures that someone gave me (supposedly it means the difference between bottom place and top place will change from 1.6 times to 1.8 times) that it essentially means the team finishing first will gain an extra £25m in TV money than the team finishing last. I guess it might not seem like much, but given you can pretty much guarantee the top six in any one season at the moment, disaster aside, it feels like they're just going to pull further away from the rest of the league.

I can't see anything happening with that deal except what you suggest here. Just more reason to pay no attention to the Premier League, really.

As for our chairmen.... Lerner, at least, seemed to keep things on an even keel after his own money started drying up a bit. I don't think our fans really appreciated that about a third of his fortune went up in the credit crunch, so naturally you're less inclined to give O'Neill £10m for a player if the last time he sat him on the bench and asked for someone else in the same position (best example was Curtis Davies before the signing of Dunne/Collins). That's not to mention selling on Gary Cahill on the cheap because you'd rather spend £4m on Zat Knight, only to see Chelsea sign Cahill for around £8m a couple of years later.

The problem was that he just got so many things wrong, once O'Neill was gone. Houllier was fine on paper but he got ill, and you do have to look at his age and health problems in the past when you analyse that call. McLeish was a weird call, especially to do what was basically a tourniquet on the club with no money. And then Lambert. Well, there were ups and downs, and going through all that will take a lot longer than I have to spend on it right now.

As for Tony Xia... he won a lot of people over by loosening the purse strings. But it seems like he doesn't know what he's doing, and he threw everything at it in the first year or so in sort of a 'shit or bust' kinda deal. It's not even like we spent a lot this season (though he ploughed a lot of cash in last year), except on the wages of the guys we brought in on loan and of course on Terry. And I'm also left wondering... what the hell happened to this guy's personal fortune? I know financial fairplay could hit us then, but we were talking about not being able to pay the fucking taxman, and you'd think you'd provide enough of a cash injection to get past this if nothing else, right?

I don't know, but I've got a horrible feeling we've been taken for a ride and we're being managed by people who don't have a fucking scooby. And that we've been suckered into it by a couple of high profile transfers and because we were so used to losing that winning most of the games shuts up most questioners.

Moving away from the World Cup briefly, Jack Wilshere is leaving Arsenal. Gutted to be honest, while his injury record is horrible, he was possibly the one "Arsenal" guy we had left. Been at the club since a young boy, I believe every other senior player we have has been signed from elsewhere.

Leno signed as keeper. Good player to have on the books, probably a step up from a declining Cech and Ospina. Can't help but feel that both may move on now. Both will want to be playing week in week out.

I've got a small hunch that Wilshere won't be going far, Gooner - wouldn't be surprised to see him in Stratford in a couple of weeks wearing claret and blue. In other news we've signed Issa Diop (which is an incredible signing, in my opinion) and Lukasz Fabianski (which is...I don't know, a solid signing, I guess).

Leno is a very good signing for sure. Shame about Jack but it just never happened. Although, to be fair, the dream should have been dead way before now. Wenger's slipping quality kept that door open for him. I do hope he can stay fit wherever he goes and fulfills some of that potential. And doesn't act like a cock. Think West Ham would be a good fit for him as it goes.

He's got way more quality than Ravel. But he needs a season or two uninterrupted with injury. Still think that, completely on form and fit, he's the best English midfielder currently. But he's like that for 10% of the season. Not enough.

Haha not quite that bad. Not really sure the best comparison. They're all either better or worse. Redknapp and Anderton spring to mind as guys who couple have been worldies without their injury issues but they still did more than Jack. Maybe if he trends upwards from here.

If Ravel had, like, Jesse Lingard's brain, or half of Lingard's brain fused to the creative half of Ravel's brain, he'd be starring in the 2018 World Cup for England. I watched him play for West Ham when he was with us and sometimes all I could say was 'fucking hell'. He was that good, and yet was also so stupid in his off the pitch life.

I don't know, but I've got a horrible feeling we've been taken for a ride and we're being managed by people who don't have a fucking scooby. And that we've been suckered into it by a couple of high profile transfers and because we were so used to losing that winning most of the games shuts up most questioners.

Missed this - the manager. I think it was to do with a recipe book for my school or something, I asked him to provide his favourite recipe. Possibly ended up being a Victoria Sandwich, but for some reason a fish pie has stuck in my head.

So, World Cup hey. Fuck me, 3 absolutely intense finishes to groups in 3 days. Germans are gone. Where we are right now I can't remember a more exciting group stage in a world cup. I am so back in love with this game right now, I saw the Batista threat up top, thought it said Batistuta and was about to join in.

Very quietly, Arsenal have made headway into the squad rebuilding process. 5 signings now. None are amazing stars, but they do strike me as steady heads. Sokratis, Leno and Lichsteiner are experienced players. Torreira looks decent and one to look out for. And today signed Guendouzi, who I have no clue about.

Wilshere has left. Gutted, but I understand it. Cazorla too, who I wish all the best in Villarreal.

Ramsey, Monreal, Cech and Welbeck have a year left on their contracts. Could see them all leave before the end of the season. The only one I'd be disappointed to see go would be Ramsey, I think the others would be replaceable. Ramsey it would cost big money to do so.

Yeah I like what Emery has done so far. Making some smart signings to fix things rather than sign a big name for a position we didn't need. Definitely wouldn't want to see Rambo go for nothing, although I wouldn't lose sleep if he left.

I agree that Ramsey going wouldn't be the end of the world. But he'd likely end up at a direct rival in the Premier League and we'd have to pay more than we get for him to be properly replaced. Ideally, he'd stay, but if he doesn't sign on by the end of the month, we should be looking to offload.

This summer is ridiculous. Mind you, some things never change - Andy Carroll and Winston Reid both need surgery and are out for 3 months each.

We're probably nearly all set for the season if Anderson does sign, althought we might get another center back (supposedly we've paid the release clause for a Paraguayan from Corinthians) to add another body there.

The Pellegrini-era is fully underway. I wonder how much that 2p that hit Sullivan on the bonce had to do with it.

I was reading an article the other day about sides struggling with the new transfer deadline, combined with the World Cup, meaning that a lot of clubs will have about three weeks to complete the predominance of their deals in. Makes it all the more amazing that West Ham have got seven players in over the past month or so, including a club record in Anderson, and we are now (reportedly) just sitting tight with what we have and unless a good offer comes in for someone on the fringes (biggest names seeming to be Antonio and Kouyate) so we sell.

May be a loan or two before the end of the window, talk of Batshuayi (again) or one of the other out of favour Chelsea players like Drinkwater, Barkley, Bakayoko, or Loftus-Cheek coming to us. If I had to pick one I think Bakayoko could be a game changer for us.

Ronaldo to Juve is amazing. I'd make a point about his age and so on, but he's a ridiculous specimen, and at 33 seems as fit as fiddle.

Mental right? My boss is a big Villa fan and he was filling me in. What's your view of the managerial situation and does the cash change that? The Henry stuff came and went pretty quickly. What would be the best move right now?

I think they've made the smart move, to be honest. Stick with Bruce. That's maybe something you have to assess if he hits a wall back in the Premier League, but history seems to suggest that there's hardly anyone better to manage you in that division. After last year you'd have to say he deserves another crack at it, at least.

What I'm less sure about is how much the cash can benefit us in the short run, given that we were already under hefty financial fair play pressure from last year, and we've got less parachute money now. I don't know how much they can spend, or what the consequences are. But at least we're not going out of business.